Church Watchdog Doubts Lesbian Activist's Influence Will Affect UMC
by Natalie Harris
July 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A conservative church renewal advocate says a certain lesbian activist's attempt to further a pro-homosexual agenda in the Methodist Church is no big deal and will have no significant effect on the denomination.
Jeanne Audrey Powers, a former United Methodist clergywoman, is offering a scholarship to a Methodist seminarian on the condition that the recipient is committed to pushing pro-homosexual sentiment in the church. The scholarship, which is named after its lesbian activist creator, is available to students attending any of 13 United Methodist seminaries or to United Methodist students attending the nondenominational seminary in Glendale, California.
Speaking of the newly established Jeanne Audrey Powers Leadership for Change Scholarship, its namesake remarked, "When the UMC changes its attitude about sexual orientation, I want to see pastors who are prepared to teach about this and other social justice issues informed by theology, ethics, and scripture itself."
But while Powers apparently hopes to help shape the next generation of UMC leaders, Mark Tooley, who directs United Methodist committee (UMAction) of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), feels her influence is waning. He describes the scholarship founder and people like her as a dying breed.
Mark Tooley | |
"I think the scholarship represents the past tense of liberal Protestantism in America," the Tooley explains, "and Jean Audrey Powers represented the zenith of liberal church activism in the 1960s and 1970s." But now that the activist and former clergywoman is retired, the IRD spokesman adds, "I don't think that her perspective really represents where Christianity is moving in this country and certainly not around the world."Powers' influence among U.S. United Methodists is waning, Tooley asserts. "I can't think of a single growing Christian body in America where that type of theology is in the fore in terms of accepting or sanctioning homosexual behavior or espousing the more radical forms of feminist theology," the UMC conservative says.
Meanwhile, Tooley points out, the international United Methodist Church is even more conservative than strictly American churches are. As a result, he contends, homosexual activists like Powers have little impact on the church as a whole.
Natalie Harris, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is an intern/reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
